Can this maytag be saved? I seem to have the opposite problem i see in the forums.

Sometimes when the motor reverses to switch from spin back to agitate the brake won't release and the tub starts to rotate - eventually flinging water everywhere. When this happens I can reach underneath and grab the pulley and give it a yank and unwind it, which engages the brake and all is well for awhile. I've replaced the brake (it used to not hold at all, so it would always spin in agitate mode - the new brake assy fixed it - until now), replaced the belts, cleaned re greased and reinstalled the pulley, adjusted the drive lug and checked for stuff jammed between the drums.It seems to happen most often with large loads and I have noticed the brake does not engage at the end of the spin cycle (the drum takes awhile to coast to a stop). My theory is that when the motor reverses to go into agitate the drum is still coasting down, so the pulley winds up too hard and won't release during the next reversal - but why? The brake is working otherwise agitate would not work. I'm stumped.

The Dependable Care brakes must be lubed or they will hang up. You can use a thick gear oil, it only takes a teaspoon or so to lube the break. Also, I know you stated the drive lug is adjusted correctly. Might want to check it again to make sure you are not at the furthest end of a good adjustment. Sorry, I don't have access to SM's. If you do, look up an A9700 and look at lubing the brake. You run the pulley up to release it, then put a small amount of oil in the gap created. Then running the pulley up and down several times disperses it.

Postmortem report: after stripping everything down, cleaning and regreasing I discovered that the idjit who installed the brake awhile back reinstalled the main pulley bearing upside-down. (That was me, by the way). The wrong-way bearing was still functioning, but the extra few millimeters were causing the stickyness and preventing the brake from grabbing after spindown. Everything seems to function as advertised now.